British art-rock-band Caravan uses among musical instruments also so-called electrospoons

Somebody eats with spoons, but we also can play music with it! Spoons were used as a percussion instrument in many countries from the ancient times, or even earlier, perhaps… when our predecessors firstly have made a sound by bones. The technique of musical spoons seems with the castanets. "Playing the spoons" originated in Britain, it was called "playing the bones". The convex sides of a pair of sheep rib bones were knocked in the same way.

Spoons were often used in Russian folk music and are known here as “lozhki” (spoons). The use of spoons for music purposes in Russia dating at least from the XVIIIth century (and even earlier). Usually, 2 or 3 wooden spoons are used for one player (it is known about orchestras from dozens of professional “spooners”!). The convex surfaces of the bowls are rattled in different tempos.

In the USA spoons as instrument are associated with American folk music and minstrelsy. These musical styles make use of other daily objects as instruments, such as the washboard (a board on which clothes was scrubbed). In addition to common household articles, musical instrument providers make professional musical spoons with the special handle.

Nowadays spoons are often used in different bands and musical projects around the world. For example, Duncan Campbell, a British Reggae composer, registered spoon player with the Musicians' Union. Noel Crombie and Bobby Hebb also are well-known spoons players in many countries. In 1994, Grunge band Soundgarden from Seattle, USA recorded a song named "Spoonman" that includes a spoons performance by street player Artis the Spoonman.

But perhaps the most interesting use of spoons was proposed by British rock-band Caravan. Musicians invented so-called “electrospoons”. For connection to the acoustic system are used special sound receivers, fixed directly on spoons and transforming sound signal by cable. Also, it is not excluded that in the future musicians will play the hole symphonies with the… holographic spoons?